The Abilene reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1883-1888, 1887-08-04
FAVORABLE PROSPECTS.
Indications That the Condition of Farmers
Will Improve Within q Few Years

Indications That the Condition of Farmer,
Will Improve Within q Few Years.
Farmers have known little Of pros.
perity for several years. Prices for al
the products of the farm. garden and
orchard have been very low. The only
animals that have sold at good figures
have been horses and mules. The
market for almost every kind of farm
product has been overstocked. even
when crops have been light over a con-
siderable por ton of the country. The
past few seasons have been very unfavor-
able for crops in several States and Ter
ritories. Fo4 year and half there
has been deficiency of rain through
out the Northwest. The lack of moist
ure largely reduced the crops of oats,
corn and potatoes. In some sections
the deficient supply of water prevented
farm animals from gaining rapidly.
The price Of most of the manufactured
goods that farmers have been obliged
to buy has been high. Farmers have
been heavily taxed to pay bonds issued
to secure the construction of railroads,
to erect bridges, school-houses and
county buildings. In many cases they
have been taxed to pay debts that other
people contracted.
Apparently there have been too many
farmers. There has been an over-prO-
duction of every kind of grain and
meat This has been to great extent
| fhn offaaf nf tho inHnnoponnfS
that have been held out to foreigners
to come to this country and engage in
farming. All the sparsely-settled
States and Territories have been trying
to encourage persons to come and
take up unoccupied land. They have
published pamphlets setting forth now
easy it was to acquire farms, to inn
prove them, and to make money by
raising grain and breeding cattle. and
have scattered them broadcast over the
world. In many cases they have been
printed in several languages. and men
have been sent to distant lands to cir
culate them. Politicians in the new
Territories have been DESTROYS Of hay
ing the population increased so they
could be admitted into the Union and
| they could be elected Governors and
Senators. They wanted large crop
of votes to harvest, and the only way
they saw to secure it was to import men
who would engage in raising crops of
wheat. oats and corn.
All the Immigrant railway companies
have done their part to increase the
number of farmers. They wanted to
get money for their land. They
wanted grain and cattle to carry to
market at exorbitant prices, and they
also wanted men to pay the construc-
ton bonds that had been voted. These
roads greatly increased the number of
farmers, who, as a matter of course,
brought down prices by the multitude
of cattle and hogs and the great amount
of grain they sent to market. The
homestead. presumption and forest-tree
culture acts all tended to increase the
number of farmers. Giving land to
any one who would occupy it and raise
crops on it was like offering chrOmos to
persons who would subscribe tor news
papers or buy goods at a corner
grocery. The farms. like the papers
and cakes of soap, ''went off like hot
cakes" A territory in which little or
no manufacturing or mining was done
would raise four times as much grain
and meat as the inhabitants could con-
sumo. The surplus went to the great
markets of the country and helped
cause a reduction in prices.
The range and ranch business has
been very injurious to persons who
raised cattle and sheep on land they
owned and on which they were COM
PEELED to pay taxes. The cattle barons
had few expenses. They occupied land
belonging to the people at large. They
paid no taxes. They provided no shelter
for their stock, harvested no hay for
them, and fed them no grain. The
food eaten by herd of ten thousand
cattle, or a flock of twenty thousand
sheep cost no more than the air they
breathed. A branding-iron, a few
1hulsti pohIeS, soHlc cheap SiuItleS anu
brides and the pay of the cowboys con-
stituted almost the only items of ex-
pense. The cost of raising sheep on
the great plains was even less than
that of raising cattle. The beef, NUT
ton and wool produced on the ranch
and range came into direct competition
with those produced on improved farms.
That the price of meat and wool should
be low under these circumstances is
not strange. People can sell articles
that cost them next to nothing at a
low price and still make money.
Persons who have been to the expense
of purchasing and improving farms
may derive some consolation and en-
enlargement from thinking that the
public land available for general xgri-
cultural purposes is nearly all disposed
of. The like is true of the large amount
of land granted to railway companies
There is very little land in the country
capable of producing corn that does
not belong to individuals, and is not
devoted to that purpose as often as it is
prudent to do SO. According to the re-
ports published in the far-west papers
the range cattle business is substan-